Rev. Johnnie Moore, executive chairman of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, has spent the past two weeks under “24/7 protection while evil wants to kill me,” he told attendees of the Rohr Jewish Learning Institute’s annual National Jewish Retreat, held last week at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington. 

Moore was referring to some 50 anti-Israel demonstrators who have protested outside of his Northern Virginia home multiple times in recent weeks — making death threats and painting graffiti.  

“Johnnie Moore is a war criminal … We will remain on the streets, outside these criminals’ homes, until the siege on Gaza is lifted, until aid is allowed in, until we see an arms embargo against the zionist entity, and until all of Palestine is liberated, from the river to the sea,” the Palestinian Youth Movement wrote Saturday on social media, following its most recent demonstration outside of the entrance gates of Moore’s Prince William County neighborhood, about 30 miles outside of D.C.  

Graffiti and signs near Moore’s home on Saturday read, “Johnnie Moore Kills Palestinians For $$$,” “Johnnie Moore Kills Babies” and “Your Neighbor is a Genocider Johnnie Moore.” Moore told Jewish Insider he has also received “two credible death threats,” which are currently under investigation, adding that police have “done an extraordinary job taking it seriously” and made one arrest for destruction of property. 

The group has also protested outside the nearby home of John Acree, the interim executive director of the GHF. 

“I never thought that it would be so life-threatening to do something so obviously right,” Moore told supporters of JLI, an educational arm of Chabad-Lubavitch, at a VIP reception Thursday night, referring to his work with GHF. 

“If they’re doing this to try and force us to quit, in fact it’s going to have the exact opposite effect because every attack, every threat, every lie is only more proof that what we’re doing is right and it’s essential,” Moore, a member of President Donald Trump’s evangelical advisory committee, told JI. “These profane efforts to stop us from saving lives only makes us more determined to save lives,” said Moore, adding that he views the attacks as “domestic terrorism.” 

“I believe some things are simple, like when Hamas opposes you, it means you’re probably doing the right thing, whatever the secretary-general of the United Nations thinks about it,” he continued, a reference to the U.N.’s calls for the dismantling of GHF.  

GHF has faced mounting criticism in recent weeks — including from some pro-Israel American Jews — amid the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Recent reports have claimed that since GHF took over aid distribution in May, with backing from the United States and Israel, Palestinians have been crushed in crowds and killed by live ammunition while waiting for aid. The IDF has admitted to firing warning shots near the aid sites. 

Last month, Moore called reports of civilian casualties at GHF’s aid sites overblown but acknowledged that “there have been some civilian casualties of people trying to get to our distribution sites  — [which] the IDF has said it is responsible for, but we think that’s a relatively small number of people, [although] one person is too much.” 

Moore also spoke at the reception about the partnership between Jews and Christians, which he said “fundamentally comes down to a simple fact — your book is also our book.”

“Your values are our values. Your heroes are our heroes. I stand here today as a Christian blessed because of Israel. Blessed because of the Jewish people because the Bible we love and cherish as Christians is a Jewish book. Your care for the Hebrew Bible, the diligence, reverence of your scribes throughout the centuries, changed our lives.” 

Moore continued, “I’ve been trying to do everything I possibly can — and I don’t know another evangelical leader that isn’t trying to do the same —  [to] fight antisemitism when it rears its head, making sure that the hostages remain a bipartisan issue in the United States.” 

In introductory remarks, Rabbi Hesh Epstein, chairman of the National Jewish Retreat and director of Chabad of South Carolina, called Moore “an international leader and advisor on religious freedom.” The reception also featured remarks from former Israeli hostage Or Levy, who was held by Hamas in Gaza for 491 days after being kidnapped from the Nova Music Festival where his wife, Einav, was killed. 

Faced with tough questions about the humanitarian crisis gripping Gaza from members of one of the country’s most prominent synagogues, Rev. Johnnie Moore, executive chairman of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, defended his organization’s actions and said reports of civilian casualties at GHF’s aid sites are overblown.

“The hunger crisis in Gaza is real, and on the same token, this crisis is being used in all kinds of different ways to advance other agendas,” Moore told members of Sinai Temple, a large Conservative synagogue in Los Angeles, in a webinar hosted on Thursday by its leader, Rabbi Erez Sherman.  

“Hamas is losing control,” said Moore, a member of President Donald Trump’s evangelical advisory committee. The terrorist organization has made shutting down GHF a central demand in ceasefire negotiations with the U.S. and Israel. “We are meeting with Gazans every single day.” 

As hunger worsens in Gaza, some pro-Israel American Jews are growing increasingly concerned with the humanitarian situation in the Palestinian enclave and placing some of the responsibility with GHF, which took over the aid distribution in May with backing from the United States and Israel. 

Emblematic of the questions and unease that American Jews are grappling with, congregants of Sinai Temple grilled Moore, submitting questions through Sherman, about troubling reports — such as Palestinians being crushed in crowds and killed by live ammunition waiting for aid — that have plagued GHF since it started delivering food and humanitarian aid in Gaza.

Sherman told Jewish Insider that he received requests from many congregants to ask Moore “the tough questions.” That included asking about GHF’s model — which has limited food distribution sites to four locations that critics say are not easily accessible and can be dangerous. 

“We’ve done a lot in two months but it’s a new operation. We’re not perfect, we’re learning every day and we’re dedicated to being direct about what we think is working and what isn’t,” Moore answered. “One of the things we’ve been doing is a very successful community distribution arm which is more like the traditional U.N. system, where through local partners we distribute thousands of boxes more directly.” 

“It has always been our intention to serve everyone in the Gaza Strip,” Moore added later.

The conversation came as Senate Democrats recently argued that GHF has “failed” in its mission and “contributed to an unacceptable and mounting civilian death toll.” 

Moore pushed back against what he called “disingenuous” narratives about the organization’s work.

“Many days Hamas would attribute 100 percent of the casualties in Gaza to happening inside our distribution sites,” he said. “There have been some civilian casualties of people trying to get to our distribution sites — [which] the IDF has said it is responsible for, but we think that’s a relatively small number of people, [although] one person is too much … We have not seen the Israeli military do anything that remotely aligns with accusations [of misconduct] and we can’t control anything that happens outside of our [four] distribution sites.” 

“Why are people not sharing the stories of the good GHF does?” Sherman asked Moore. “Everything that comes along with good also sometimes has bad components.” 

Moore said that there are “both sincere and insincere reasons” for negative media coverage. “There are people who are using this for their own political, or other, purposes.” 

He went on to criticize “the broken humanitarian system [for] prolonging the war” and the United Nations for its unwillingness to partner with GHF, although a breakthrough may be coming he said, claiming that “in the last couple of days, we have some indications that some people in the U.N. system are going to defy the leadership.” 

“I thought this conversation would be about food but it’s a much greater conversation,” Sherman said during the webinar. He asked Moore about the link between photos of starving Gazans and the recent news that several countries, including Canada, plan to recognize a Palestinian state. 

“Whether you agree or disagree with the policies of France, the U.K., they made those decisions within the context of talking about the humanitarian crisis of hunger in Gaza, a crisis caused mainly, not entirely, but mainly by a globally designated terrorist organization,” Moore answered. 

Sinai Temple runs an Israel center “established to forge an ever stronger link between Los Angeles Jewry and Israel,” according to its website. But even as most congregants identify as pro-Israel, or “Israel engaged,” as Sherman prefers to describe it, he told JI that the congregation is “a very diverse community” which, like other Jewish American communities, is wrestling with how much blame Israel bears in the Gaza crisis. 

“Rev. Moore is literally at the center of the most difficult and disturbing issue in the world at the moment, so how can we not engage in this conversation? The divisiveness in the Jewish community in America is very difficult and those two parts also need the opportunity to hear from each other,” Sherman told JI, referring to those who disagree on GHF’s approach. “This is a moment where we have to balance morality and conviction.” 

“We’re in the week of Tisha B’Av and when you look at the history of Jewish communities splintering, it’s no longer theoretical, it’s a real piece,” he said. 

“Rev. Moore has thanked us for the courage to bring him and I think that’s an important thing for speakers to understand, that it takes courage for communities to bring narratives that might not all be agreed with,” Sherman told JI, noting that he plans to bring Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib, a Gazan outspoken against Hamas who heads the Atlantic Council’s Realign for Palestine project, as the synagogue’s next speaker. 

“Let’s see what he has to say,” said Sherman. “I’m interested in the narratives of people who wouldn’t necessarily be at my Shabbat table.”